Building the K-12 Engineering Pipeline: An Assessment of Where We Stand

This paper is a survey-based assessment of the pre-engineering activities focused on building the engineering pipeline in the Ozarks region of Missouri. We assess the impact of diverse outreach programs including Project Lead the Way, Science Olympiad, the Ozarks sySTEAMic Coalition (O-STEAM) and other Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs/outreach events that have sought to engage the local schools and public at large. Evaluation was based on analysis of survey data collected from middle school and high school students (6-12th graders) in the local schools as well as students currently enrolled in the engineering program at Missouri State University (a cooperative joint program with Missouri University of Science and Technology). The broad and diverse spectrum of students feedback analyzed provided an insight into which activities are effectively building the pipeline and what things we might considering doing differently to strengthen the engineering pipeline. Though this survey is focused on the Springfield Public schools of the Ozarks Missouri region, the methodology and results are replicable to other regions in the US.